Green Smoothies

At the beginning of the year my roommate saw that Simple Green Smoothies was doing a 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge so we decided to give it a try.  What we loved about this site was that it not only provided a different set of green smoothie recipes each week, but they also provided a shopping list for each week's smoothies!  We started with week 2 and though it would be fun to do a review of some of the recipes and share our favorites. 

Week 2

Day 1. Banana C Monster-

2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup water
2 bananas
1 orange, peeled
1 cup strawberries

Review: 5/5 stars! This smoothie had a great flavor and a great texture. It was creamy, but not too thick. We were off to a good start!

Day 2. Popeye's Fruit Punch-

2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup water
2 cups grapes
1 apple
1 cup strawberries

Review: 3.5/5 stars. It had good flavor with extra sweetness from the grapes, but we felt like it never got mixed enough.  A banana could have helped with the texture.

Day 3. Purple Power-

2 cups fresh kale, stems removed
1 cup apple juice, unsweetened
1 cup water
2 cups blueberries
2 bananas

Review: 3/5 stars. This smoothie was too rich.  I thought the kale and apple juice made it taste like fall, but it had too many flavors going on.  

Day 5. Chunky Monkey-

2 cups fresh spinach
2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
2 bananas
1 pear
2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons cacao powder

Review: 5/5 stars! This was our favorite smoothie! It has an excellent creamy to thick ratio, so it is filling but still easy to drink.  We were a little worried that the chocolate would be overpowering, but the flavor is perfect! We have made this smoothie many times. (Note: We did not use almond butter in ours)

Photo credit: Gena B.

Week 3

Day 5. Tropical Breeze-

2 cups fresh spinach
2 cups coconut milk, unsweetened
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
2 cups pineapple
1 banana

Review: 4.5/5 stars.  I really like the flavors in this smoothie.  It feels lighter than some of the smoothies and it is definitely not as filling.  However, I still highly recommend it!

All of the recipes make enough for two smoothies, but can easily be halved.  I loved that all of these smoothies are non-dairy and incorporate the flavors of different non-dairy milk options. The grocery lists call for oranges for some smoothies, but we realized that buying orange juice was easier and faster.  A great tip from Simple Green Smoothies is to blend the greens and liquid first, before adding the other ingredients.  This really helps to avoid big chunks of greens in your smoothie!

I hope this inspires you to try some new green smoothie recipes! I would also love to hear about some of your favorite smoothies :)